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be concerned about safety if you take herbals and your doctor ought to know what you take.
Quoting from Wanjek (pp.89/90) ..........
"Herbs hold great promise in the treatment of disease and everyday aches and pains. At least a quarter of the pharmaceuticals sold in the United States are derived directly from plants. Aspirin is a synthetic version of a compound found in willow tree bark. The only problem with herbals is that we don't fully understand which are good for what conditions and, more pertinently, what the proper doses are. The real downside is that the Food and Drug Administration does not regulate herbals. What is written on the label and what is stuck inside the pill don't necessarily jibe. Herbs vary wildly in terms of overall content, contamination, and plant part.
"It shouldn't be hard to see how natural herbs can be dangerous. Poison ivy is natural, but it is not something you would use in a skin cream. Mushrooms are natural, but half the species can kill you. Very potent yet common herbal remedies include mistletoe, comfrey, and foxglove. These can all be deadly at even moderate doses, and you may be unaware of the true dose within each pill. So the claim that herbals are safe because they are natural is clearly false. The most toxic compounds known, such as strychnine or amatoxin, are derived from plants. Many herbals also cause allergic reactions. "
"Americans (not us!) upon hearing that a herb or vitamin may be good, will go out and buy it in great quantities, in its highest concentration, and incorporate it into the sickly American diet.
Quoting from Wanjek (pp.89/90) ..........
"Herbs hold great promise in the treatment of disease and everyday aches and pains. At least a quarter of the pharmaceuticals sold in the United States are derived directly from plants. Aspirin is a synthetic version of a compound found in willow tree bark. The only problem with herbals is that we don't fully understand which are good for what conditions and, more pertinently, what the proper doses are. The real downside is that the Food and Drug Administration does not regulate herbals. What is written on the label and what is stuck inside the pill don't necessarily jibe. Herbs vary wildly in terms of overall content, contamination, and plant part.
"It shouldn't be hard to see how natural herbs can be dangerous. Poison ivy is natural, but it is not something you would use in a skin cream. Mushrooms are natural, but half the species can kill you. Very potent yet common herbal remedies include mistletoe, comfrey, and foxglove. These can all be deadly at even moderate doses, and you may be unaware of the true dose within each pill. So the claim that herbals are safe because they are natural is clearly false. The most toxic compounds known, such as strychnine or amatoxin, are derived from plants. Many herbals also cause allergic reactions. "
"Americans (not us!) upon hearing that a herb or vitamin may be good, will go out and buy it in great quantities, in its highest concentration, and incorporate it into the sickly American diet.
For example, recent studies have shown that green tea may prevent breast cancer, it isn't harmful and there's a good chance it can be beneficial to health. Therefore, they recommend that Americans drink green tea. This is the worst recommendation researchers could have made. Americans aren't going drink green tea the way the Japanese drink green tea ~ the Japanese drink it straight. Americans don't like green tea ~ it’s too bitter. They will only drink "green tea drink” a concoction of water and green tea extract, plus sugar,and salt ~ the same junk that makes Americans unhealthy in the first place. The same goes for ginseng drinks. They are just sugar-sodium water with, if you are blessed, a touch of ginseng, although minus the active ingredients, which are too expensive to include. (Only roots at least four years old contain useful amounts of the ingredient.)
"The bottom line is that herbs, like everything else are made of chemicals. Some chemicals are very safe for humans; some chemicals are very dangerous. It doesn’t matter whether man or nature synthesizes the chemical, it's still a chemical. There is no logic in the idea that nature's chemicals are safer than a pharmaceutical company's chemicals. Thus, ingesting an untested herb is no different from ingesting an untested pharmaceutical. Furthermore, no medicine is inert. Medicine is effective only when it changes something in your body. Medicine that works is, by definition, a chemical that is potentially harmful to your body over time. "
"The bottom line is that herbs, like everything else are made of chemicals. Some chemicals are very safe for humans; some chemicals are very dangerous. It doesn’t matter whether man or nature synthesizes the chemical, it's still a chemical. There is no logic in the idea that nature's chemicals are safer than a pharmaceutical company's chemicals. Thus, ingesting an untested herb is no different from ingesting an untested pharmaceutical. Furthermore, no medicine is inert. Medicine is effective only when it changes something in your body. Medicine that works is, by definition, a chemical that is potentially harmful to your body over time. "
milk thistle cont’d
